A Delicious Mistake (4 page)

He
and Luke had faced adversity every day, and had come out of it with no harm.
Going into dangerous places was a requirement of the job, a way of life that
they had both accepted and settled into. They had experienced some awfully
close calls, too. One time, they had gotten involved in a shoot out with a far
too daring group of poachers. Benjamin would never forget the overwhelming
relief he had felt when he had finally come down from the high of adrenaline
and he realized just how close they had come to death. He had counted his
blessings that day that they had both made it out alive. They had also managed
to wound and capture several of the poachers. Others had escaped, however, and
that made their feat just not enough.

As
Benjamin trudged through the grass of the savannah he thought back to that day.
He prayed with all his heart that this time Luke would somehow make it out of
whatever trouble he had gotten himself into. He thought that at times the man
seemed to attract mishaps like honey attracted flies, but he had always manage
to somehow escape unscathed. He thought back to the day that a very young Luke
had found a lion wandering too near the Game Lodge. Benjamin had gone out to
see Luke facing a lion with nothing more than a stick in his hands. Now he
wondered if a lion had found Luke—a hungry one. Or had Luke fallen and hurt
himself? A broken leg out here could prove deadly. Ah, but Luke had a radio on
him—he must have remembered to keep an extra battery with him, too. So what had
gone wrong? Why had he not called for help if he needed it? It had to be that
Luke was just following a trail and clues and had lost track of time.

But
Benjamin couldn’t shake the feeling that this time would be different from all those
other times. He forced himself not to think about that. Luke was all right. He
had
to be.

               
The search went on all night. It covered miles but Benjamin would not let
anyone stop or rest. They had to find Luke—and they would find him alive.    
But of all the times he had ever been wrong in his life, he would remember this
one above all others. Tired, fatigue heavy on his shoulders, and his legs
cramping, Benjamin met the other four men of his search party back at the spot
where the pitfall trap had been dismantled by Thomas and Luke the day before.
Benjamin glanced around. Everyone had come back with hands as empty as his.
They gathered around the Jeep to discuss where to go next—where might they find
Luke if not with his Jeep? The two-way radio crackled. Benjamin swung around.
It was the most ominous sound he had ever heard in his life and he knew it
would remain etched into his ears until the day he died. He stiffened, for he
knew what he would hear next—knew and did not want the words to come. But they
did.

As
the blood-red sun rose over the Serengeti, news of blood came. Luke Hutton had
been found. Dead.

* * *

               
Jason Keita, the fifteen-year old son of Jim Keita, one of the long-time Hutton
Game Lodge Rangers, found Luke’s body lying in a crumpled heap by the muddy
stream of a river. He was lying halfway in the water. It was all too obvious he
hadn’t drowned. It was equally obvious he had not been killed by an animal,
although whoever had murdered him had tried to make it look so. His left arm
was missing and a deep gash slashed his neck, so broad that his head was only
partly still attached to his body. It was a gruesome discovery. Something had
happened to Luke. Everyone knew and expected that something to be bad, but no
one expected to find his horribly mutilated body. That shook Benjamin to his
core.

At
the beginning, Benjamin blamed shock for what happened next. It seemed like a
dream—a nightmare. Soon enough he began to realize it was
truly
happening. The Nkorula Lapa Police Department set up an investigation right
away. The Huttons were well known and although the police hadn’t wanted to help
the Game Lodge’s staff in their battle against poaching, they were quick to
look into Luke Hutton’s death.

The
police decided the murder had to be racially related. Someone had seen a black
man in the area where Luke’s body had been found—a black man driving fast in a
Jeep. He was thought to be responsible for Luke’s death. But this was North
Africa and most everyone was black. Still, suspicion fell onto Benjamin Ndlovo.
He was, after all, the very last person to see Luke Hutton alive. 

Benjamin
could understand the suspicion. The last person to see a homicide victim alive
would become the primary suspect until better leads were found. What he
couldn’t understand was most of the locals sharing the same thought. He guessed
that maybe there wasn’t much room for any alternative, but it still stunned him
and added to his already bone-crushing, soul-shattering pain.

But
he forced some lucidity onto himself. He had to think as clearly as possible.
Evidence wasn’t really in his favor. But he wanted the real killer caught.

The
police had begun to gather statements. Several tourists who had been located
attested to seeing both men drive past during the afternoon of that ill-fated
day. Two of the tourists reported that the two men in the Jeep seemed cold to
each other, as if they had just fought. Benjamin couldn’t understand this.
What—should he have been grinning and smiling as he and Luke talked about
catching poachers? The old rumors came back again—that Benjamin had been in
love once with Luke’s younger sister and Luke had taken his sister away from
Africa to keep her away from a black man. Those rumors left Benjamin’s jaw
tight and his chest aching, for there was some truth in it. He had adored young
Sarah. He could not deny that.

Furthermore,
the police found no sign of poachers having been anywhere close to the area
where Luke’s body had been found. The investigators wondered why Benjamin had
let Luke go off alone, given the potential threat he might face. The people
Benjamin had spoken to that day vanished and would not come forward to say they
had seen him and spoken to him. Upon being questioned, a few workers at the
Hutton Game Lodge reluctantly had to admit they had warned Benjamin about the
chance that poachers might be headed into the area that he normally surveyed
with Luke.

The
burning question Benjamin kept hearing over and over was did Luke Hutton walk
into some kind of ambush? Or was there a simple explanation, one that hit much
closer to home than anyone might think? What if a supposed friend had lured
Luke to his death, killed him, and tried to make it look an animal attack?

Benjamin
knew that question had burned itself into the minds of most members of the
community. He could hardly believe that anyone who wasn’t with the police would
think along those lines, and he cursed the complete lack of secrecy in
Tanzania. Everyone knew everything about everyone. Police investigations should
remain a private affair until any suspects, or as he thought in this case,
the
suspect, was arrested. But not here. In this little community of his everyone
knew he had become Suspect Number One.

How
could
anybody
think he could murder his brother? Didn’t they know just
how much he had loved Luke? Couldn’t they see how deep their bond ran? Hadn’t
the eldest members of the Game Farm’s staff and of the town’s community watched
the two of them grow up together and become brothers? But some whispered of how
brother had killed brother before, starting with Cain and Able. Brotherly love
sometimes came with jealousy when one man owned a great deal of land and the
other man only worked for the rich, white man.

Benjamin
endured the police questioning and the sideways glances. Nobody dared to speak
their suspicions aloud, but whispers ran behind his back, and fingers pointed
when they thought he wasn’t looking. It was all too surreal, too heartbreaking.
Benjamin didn’t fear arrest. He would welcome that, for it would give him a
chance to prove he had done nothing wrong. But he wanted the police to catch
the real killer. He wanted them to search for proof that poachers had done
this, for he knew that must be the truth. But the police did nothing more other
than to ask questions and more questions and get nowhere. Benjamin burned with
the injustice, and he kept his silence. For while he didn’t fear the police, he
feared the murder of Luke Hutton would go unpunished.

The
Police were stumbling around in the dark. They had nothing to go on.
He
had
nothing. But Benjamin knew he had to find
something
. Whoever had done
this had to be brought to justice. He had no idea how to do it, and God knew he
needed to lay low until things calmed down enough for him and his reputation to
become clean again. Or perhaps the murderer would grow bold and careless and
would say something to the wrong person. But that would take time.

He
hated this, this waiting and idleness. As if the whole horrible affair wasn’t
unfair enough, he was forced to do nothing. His blood boiled. His chest hurt.
Almost a week slipped by since the gruesome discovery that had changed his life
forever, and in that week he barely slept. He spent the days driving what had
been Luke’s favorite Jeep around the terrains, blindly, as his thoughts
whirled. If there were any threats to be seen, he missed them completely.
Luckily, though, after the murder the poachers were also laying low.

Sometimes
he’d bring Thomas with him. He was a South African twenty-year old who had
dreamed of living on the Serengeti ever since he was a small child. Luke hadn’t
thought twice about hiring him a year and a half ago when Thomas had come
looking for a job. He didn’t care that the boy was inexperienced. Luke had seen
the same love for the land shining in Thomas’ hazel eyes that also burned in
his heart, and that had been more than enough for him to instantly make the
decision. Thomas seemed to be the only one who didn’t suspect Benjamin. At
least, he hadn’t given off any hints that he did.

Then
one morning as they drove along the treacherous ground of the plains, Thomas
said, “I don’t think you killed him.”

Gripping
the wheel tighter, Benjamin shot the young man a sideways glance.

Thomas
shifted in his seat, uncomfortably. “I…uh…I just…it needed to be said.”

“And
I needed to hear it,” Benjamin said after a moment. He realized then just how
true that was. He desperately needed to hear someone say they did not believe
he would ever, could ever kill his brother. “Thank you.” He gave Thomas a
glance.

Thomas
nodded and smiled. He relaxed a little. “I want to help you find out who did
it. Police have absolutely no idea what the fuck they’re doing. They have no
leads, they don’t know where to look or what to look for. They’re not rangers.
You can’t go scout the area now, they would see it as…” he hesitated and
finished lamely, “…well, you know.”

“They
would see it as a murderer going back to the scene of the crime,” Benjamin said
bitterly. He couldn’t believe he even had to utter such a sentence.

Thomas
cringed. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “But…” He lifted his chin and tightened his
hand into a fist. “I can go.”

Benjamin
hesitated. “I don’t know, Thomas. It may be dangerous. Whoever did this to Luke
is still be out there.”

“Not
if it’s Luke that they were looking for. I’ll be careful.”

So was Luke,
Benjamin thought.
He sighed. “No, Thomas. I won’t risk losing you, too.”

“But—?”

“I
said no.” Benjamin cut him off sharply. “End of discussion. Consider it a boss’
order.”

Thomas
scowled, but he didn’t say anything. Benjamin could only hope the stubborn
youth would listen to him and not go investigating on his own. He wondered,
too, how Luke’s family in England was taking the news of Luke’s death. Would
this give Luke’s father another stroke? How would this news hit Luke’s mother?
And Sarah—Benjamin’s heart stuttered. During their trips to Africa, Sarah had
been Luke’s little shadow for so many years. This would break her heart, he
knew. Perhaps she would come to Africa for the funeral—Luke had left in his
will that he wanted to be buried here in Africa. But with Luke’s father ill,
Benjamin didn’t know if the family would be able to make the trip. Luke had
been a popular man, well liked, which made his death all the more shocking. But
Benjamin wondered if he would he be the only real family mourning beside Luke’s
grave. He hated that it might be Luke’s death that brought Sarah back to
Africa.

Chapter Three: Grief and the Grievous

               
For the next week, Benjamin’s nights became a frightful sequence of anguished
waking and sleeping nightmares. He had no way of knowing what had really
happened to Luke—not yet, anyway. His mind came up with ghastly scenarios. The
images weren’t particularly vivid, but the sensations were, which made the
whole thing even worse than the clearest picture. In his dreams, Benjamin could
hear Luke screaming. Luke screamed in fear, but most of all, he screamed in
agony. His death must have been like being torn apart—and perhaps he was. It
certainly would explain the missing limb, which had eventually been found a
couple of miles upstream. Benjamin could smell Luke’s blood, pungent with a
copper tang. He could hear the awful thud of the machete as it sunk into Luke’s
neck and severed half his head off of his body.